Beginning Aid

[Crankmas]

Thanks for the update, in the old days I think it had a catholic elementary school on top hence little activity on weekends, it was posted but thats the way we rolled, also a good example of aid/bigwall practice that left no trace.

[absolutsugarsmurf]

Thanks for the advice everyone. To allay any concerns, I'm not specifically looking to hammer lines in the gorge and am mostly (90%) concerned with free aid (hooking, cam hooks, cams, nuts, etc). However I have recently (within the past year) become more interested in harder big wall and long multipitch climbing of grades 3 and 4 that go A2 or A3. The routes that I'm interested in are mostly on granite, in North Carolina and Yosemite. However I have read that there are many, many nailing routes in Zion, which is sandstone, and which I'd like to give a try someday.

For now, mostly I'd like to learn placement because I'll be doing climbs that go as clean aid because of fixed gear. What happens if I get three pitches up to what is supposed to be a ladder of fixed pins and copper heads, and they have been pulled recently (think the Huber brothers cleaning in Yos, that had to drastically change some Topos) for some reason or another. In these situations it is necessary to have a well developed skill set, which I curently do not. To avoid having to call in search an rescue, I'd like to be as well equiped (mentally and with techniques) as possible.